NPR: Trump executive order seeks to ‘restore’ American history through Smithsonian overhaul
President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday directing Vice President Vance to eliminate “divisive race-centered ideology” from Smithsonian museums, educational and research centers, and the National Zoo.
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Performer and cultural strategist, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, former head of Social Impact at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC, said the wording of the executive order is ill-informed.
“ To say the Smithsonian Institution has an anti-American agenda is to reveal a complete misunderstanding of what America’s supposed to be,” Joseph said.
Joseph and six other members of his team were laid off earlier this week as part of the Trump administration’s overhaul of the cultural center.
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Bulwark: Don’t Let Them Whitewash Our History
Donald Trump wants to ignore the sins and struggles of our past. He’s wrong.
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But my walk in the Boston Common was actually very much worth it. Because I ended up near the State House, at the Robert Gould Shaw and Massachusetts 54th Regiment Memorial.
This great monument, which took more than a decade for Augustus Saint-Gaudens to sculpt, was unveiled in 1897. It depicts Colonel Robert Gould Shaw leading members of the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry—one of the first black regiments of the Civil War—as it marched down Beacon Street on May 28, 1863, on its way to fight the rebels in the South.
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Steven Beschloss: Plundering Black America
An excerpt from an important new book chronicling the history of the racial wealth gap
We’ve been confronted in recent years with a ridiculous amount of lies that there is no such thing as structural or systemic racism in America. This fallacious flood of misinformation has helped fuel the hostile attacks on the study of racial history and the virulent rejection of diversity, equity and inclusion by the white nationalist Trump regime.My friend and former colleague Calvin Schermerhorn, a historian of slavery in the United States, addresses the factual reality in his new book, The Plunder of Black America: How the Racial Wealth Gap Was Made. By telling the stories of seven families over 400 years, he shows how the fruits of their labor were stolen again and again, from generation to generation, saddling Black families with a deeply inequitable struggle to advance economically.
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Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – March 30, 2025
On the Fox News Channel this morning, Director of the National Economic Council Kevin Hassett said: “President Trump has a long run vision of a golden age of America and we’re working really, really hard to get it out there in time. But I can’t give you any forward-looking guidance on what’s gonna happen this week. The president has got a heck of a lot of analysis before him, and he’s gonna make the right choice, I’m sure.”
The National Economic Council is the primary group the president uses to develop domestic and international economic policy, so the fact that Hassett appears to have no idea what’s coming is concerning.
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Free Press: Jed Rubenfeld: Donald Trump’s War on Big Law
The president is pursuing a vigorous—and possibly unconstitutional—campaign against the nation’s top law firms. Will any of it stick?
Over the past month, the White House has issued five executive orders targeting big white-shoe law firms associated with prominent anti-Trump lawyers. It’s not surprising that Trump would do such a thing. What’s strange is that the language of his orders maximizes their own likely unconstitutionality.
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Several of the orders accuse the targeted firms of unlawful discrimination through their DEI policies. The most recent says that WilmerHale “discriminates against its employees based on race and other categories prohibited by civil rights laws, including through the use of race-based ‘targets.’ ”Had the orders stopped there, they would be on much more solid constitutional ground. Instead, they have—with increasing candor—explicitly targeted the firms for representing causes Trump opposes and associating with lawyers perceived to be adversaries of the president.
For example, the sins attributed to WilmerHale include engaging in “partisan representations to achieve political ends,” litigating in favor of affirmative action, and doing pro bono work for illegal aliens. WilmerHale is also condemned for hiring three named lawyers, including Robert Mueller, after they participated in what the order calls “one of the most partisan investigations in American history.”
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(more…)Above the Law: Trump’s Attack On Biglaw Reminds One Congressman Of The Chinese Communist Party
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House Member Raja Krishnamoorthi — a Harvard Law grad himself — sees some eery parallels with this administration’s antics and the Chinese Communist Party. His statement on the matter goes hard, drawing the comparisons between Trump and the CCP — and he should know, he’s the ranking member on the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the U.S. and the CCP.
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(more…)Robert Reich: Why Trump opponents can’t find a lawyer
His campaign of vengeance against lawyers and law firms is chilling opposition to his regime, which is exactly what he wants.
(more…)Law and Chaos: Name and Shame
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And so it’s incumbent upon us to name and shame the lawyers enabling this wholesale assault.Obviously high-level Trump officials like Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris, and soon-to-be Solicitor General John Sauer will live forever in the pantheon of disgrace. And Ed Martin, the acting US Attorney for DC, will surely be remembered for his ignominious conduct.
But the legal foot soldiers who made this era of lawlessness possible should not escape infamy. The Trump administration could not wage this battle without midlevel and line attorneys willing to do the research, draft the pleadings, and sign their names. Put simply, these people had a choice. They chose to participate in these disgraceful actions, rather than resigning, as so many of their colleagues did. They should be shamed and called out, and we will attempt to update and maintain this list during this administration to make sure that they are.
[25 examples detailed]
(more…)WSJ: The Democrats Who Are Fighting—and Winning—Against Trump in Court
State attorneys general have brought 11 lawsuits against the president and his administration; strategy carries political risk
As Democrats struggle to find their bearings after President Trump’s return to the White House, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes isn’t looking for common ground like some Democrats in Washington. Her strategy is simple: take him to court.
Mayes is one of 23 Democratic attorneys general who are strategizing on a nearly daily basis about how to use the courts to thwart Trump. Various combinations of them have persuaded federal judges to pause White House initiatives to end birthright citizenship, freeze all federal grants and fire probationary government employees.
Jennifer Rubin: Not Tired of Winning Against Trump
Judges hand Trump loss after loss…after loss
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That barrage can feel overwhelming. It is overwhelming. It’s shameful. But we must not let the graceless, inhumane antics of Trump and his overlord Elon Musk dominate an encouraging reality: in court, they are losing far more than they are winning.
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(more…)Chris Geidner: Breaking: Fed’l court rules Alabama AG’s threatened abortion-fund prosecutions unconstitutional
Alabama A.G. Steve Marshall had threatened to prosecute those who help Alabamians get abortions in states where they would be legal.
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Thom Hartmann: If Putin Designed a Plan to Collapse America, What Would It Look Like?
Undermine democracy. Destroy institutions. Divide the people. Loot the country. Collapse it from the inside out…
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TNR: Transcript: Trump Text Fiasco Worsens as Knives Come Out for Hegseth
As Trump’s allies start turning on his defense secretary, Jennifer Rubin of The Contrarian explains how Pete Hegseth’s tenure will get much worse—and why it will become untenable for Trump and the GOP.
(more…)The Tangle: The Signal chat controversy and everything else we missed.
It was one of the newsiest weeks of the year.
MSN: ‘Jaws on the floor’: GOP lawmakers ‘angry’ J.D. Vance ‘tried to block an order from Trump’
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Vance avoided a lot of the scrutiny in the Signal chat scandal, despite the fact that he was indeed a participant in the conversation which revealed detailed attack plans to top officials, and a reporter who had been accidentally included.But now it is coming out that top GOP leaders are “angry” with Vance, NBC News reported Sunday.
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(more…)Politico: Atlantic editor: ‘Phone numbers don’t just get sucked into other phones’
Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, decried assertions he had never spoken with national security adviser Mike Waltz before being included in a Signal group chat with top Trump administration officials.
White House officials have vehemently bashed Goldberg ever since it was revealed he was inadvertently added by Waltz to a Signal group chat discussion with other top administration officials about attack plans against the Houthis in Yemen.
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Bulwark: Even MAGAs Can’t Explain Trump’s Foreign Policy
But strongmen the world over appreciate his weakening of American soft power.
IN THE SPAN OF JUST TWO MONTHS, the Trump administration has aligned the United States with Russia against Ukraine, undermined American soft power, and torpedoed relationships with America’s oldest and closest allies. President Donald Trump is intent on abandoning the global economic, political, and security order that has been the foundation of U.S. foreign policy for eighty years, a shift that America’s enemies are openly celebrating. “The new administration is rapidly changing all foreign policy configurations,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov recently said. “This largely coincides with our vision.”
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BBC: Germany decides to leave history in the past and prepare for war
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Germany’s military, the Bundeswehr, recently got the all-clear for a massive increase in investment after parliament voted to exempt defence spending from strict rules on debt.
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BBC Mundo: “Pensé que el libre mercado había llegado para quedarse, hasta que apareció Trump”
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WSJ: RFK Jr. Is Already Vindicating His Critics
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been secretary of Health and Human Services for all of six weeks, but he’s already vindicating his critics. First he downplayed a measles outbreak in Texas. Then he reportedly hired a trial-lawyer ally to work on a government study of the link between vaccines and autism. Now he has pushed out a top Food and Drug Administration official because he helped accelerate approval of the Covid vaccines.
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What is disturbing are news reports that Mr. Kennedy has tapped David Geier, a longtime vaccine critic, to assist with a CDC study of vaccines and autism. The White House hasn’t confirmed the reports, but HHS lists Mr. Geier in its staff directory as a “senior data analyst.”Mr. Geier has spent decades spreading the discredited theory, embraced by Mr. Kennedy, that thimerosal in vaccines causes autism and neurological damage in children. He has published more than a dozen studies that trial lawyers have cited as evidence of vaccines’ harms, though they have been rejected by judges and the government’s special vaccine courts.
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Your Local Epidemiologist: Good riddance flu, fall vaccine plan, fluoride, long Covid research back, and yes, measles.
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What this means for you: Flu and Covid vaccines are still expected this fall. The big question will be: Will they be covered by insurance? Stay tuned.
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Wired: Why Gutting USAID Will Hurt America
WIRED Senior Writer Kate Knibbs explains how the Trump administration’s self-proclaimed “America First” policies are, in practice, anything but—particularly their effective destruction of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). See why shuttering the operations of USAID will negatively impact the everyday lives of Americans.
(more…)Mindy Belz: 1,650,000
How killing a global program to fight HIV/AIDS kills
In 2004 the stalls off a main road in Malawi’s capital had turned to coffin making. Rough wooden caskets lined “Coffin Row” in Lilongwe and sold for a premium as death became a growth industry and carpenters worked round the clock to meet demand.
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Yet by 2007, Lilongwe’s Coffin Row had become Furniture Row, the casket displays replaced by chairs and bed frames. What changed in three years? HIV prevalence in Malawi fell with the arrival of affordable antiretroviral medicines. The medications plus the infrastructure to administer them were made possible through the U.S.-funded President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR.
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Adam Kinzinger: The Science Brain Drain
How Trump’s Cuts Are Crippling American Innovation and Ceding the Future
What do cell phones, artificial intelligence, modern warships, and cancer cures have in common? They all owe their development to federally funded science—an engine of progress that has profoundly shaped our daily lives, strengthened national defense, and secured global economic dominance. Naturally, the Trump administration wants to slash funding for the breakthroughs of tomorrow.
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Jess Piper: The Conversation
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The point? Even when we are tired, democracy is worth it. If we are going to beat back the fascists and the oligarchs, we are going to have to talk.
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Wired: DOGE Is Trying to Gift Itself a $500 Million Building, Court Filings Show
The documents reveal a DOGE affiliate is attempting to transfer the headquarters of an independent think tank, the United States Institute of Peace, to the government at no cost.
The DOGE-affiliated acting president of the United States Institute of Peace, a Congressionally funded, independent think tank, has moved to transfer the agency’s $500 million headquarters building to the General Services Administration free of charge, according to court documents revealed in a recently filed lawsuit.
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Ars Technica: DOGE accesses federal payroll system and punishes employees who objected
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Popular Information: How the Social Security Administration and DOGE are gaslighting Americans
The Social Security Administration (SSA) sent an email on March 27 to beneficiaries saying that reports that field offices were closing was an invention of fake news media. “Recent reports in the media that the [SSA] is permanently closing local field offices are false,” the message said.
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Here are the facts: DOGE and the SSA moved forward with plans to close multiple field offices. Then, without public notice or explanation, they reversed their plans. Now they are trying to pretend like they were never planning to close field offices, and people are confused due to misinformation from the media or Democratic politicians.
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In all, the DOGE website initially listed 47 lease terminations for buildings used by the SSA, according to archived data from the Musk Watch DOGE Tracker. In the most recent update, 25 of those entries, including more than a dozen field offices, have been removed from the DOGE website. …
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Sarah Jones: Elon Musk Can’t Handle the Truth When Booed in Wisconsin
After Elon Musk was booed at a town hall in Wisconsin, he blamed George Soros operatives for the people who are upset with his looting of the government.
Elon Musk has never dealt with criticism well. He always has someone else to blame when he or his companies are criticized.
So when he was booed at a town hall in Green Bay, Wisconsin on Sunday, where he is allegedly illegally trying to buy yet another election, he blamed… George Soros operatives.
Watch here:
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MSN: Elon Musk’s SpaceX pleads with Trump for tariff exemptions
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is seeking to avoid tariffs on equipment imported from China as Donald Trump prepares to escalate his trade war.
The rocket company has asked the US government for exemptions on two pieces of Chinese-made manufacturing equipment used to produce broadband terminals for its Starlink satellite internet business.
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NY Post: Elon Musk reveals DOGE’s new target — members of Congress who got ‘strangely wealthy’
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Silver Bulletin: Republicans are acting like there’s a Blue Wave coming
…So unless Republicans start feeling more confident about their chances and open up special elections for other reasons, a switch in chamber control before the midterms is unlikely but not impossible. …
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FPWellman: You’ve got to be f’ing kidding
What happens when the Vice President attacks you on Twitter
Saturday interrupted
My fiancè and I were having a really nice midwestern Saturday this weekend. We were hitting the garden centers looking for new trees to replace a couple of small ones we lost over a brutally cold winter. Wandering around on our suburban errands.
As we stopped to grab lunch at a local favorite chain, I got a text from my MeidasTouch colleague Brett Meisales simply saying, “Making friends?”
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Can you imagine being so powerful that you have your own jet flying you back and forth for a measly three hour visit to drag our ally, military staff serving your every need, luxury armored vehicles specially flown in for you…yet, you’re so pathetically thin skinned you feel the need to surf Twitter for people criticizing you?
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Closer to the Edge: LOUDER THAN FEAR: How to Use Music to Protest ICE — Creatively, Legally, and With Maximum Impact
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Robert Reich: Solidarity on April 5
“Hands off” our health care, our schools, our Social Security, and our rights!
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Dan Rather: Resistance Rises
Turns out Americans are paying attention
As someone who covered and vividly remembers the Vietnam War protests that consumed this country in the 1960s and ’70s, I can safely say that the anti-Musk and Trump demonstrations popping up around the country are small by comparison. But they’re growing … and quickly. For how long and to what end it’s too soon to know. But they are worth noting.
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Noah Berlatsky: Outside Llewyn Davis
The Coen Brothers vision of art without solidarity.
The Coen Brothers’ 2013 Inside Llewyn Davis presents a folk revival without politics. Set in the early 1960s, the title singer, played by Oscar Isaac, struggles to make his mark in the folk music scene of the day, singing blues and Childe Ballads by day and sleeping on friend’s couches at night.
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